Before Their Diaspora is a visual journey into Palestine before 1948. Every important aspect of Palestinian society comes to life in the nearly 500 photographs, carefully selected from thousands available in private and public collections throughout the world. Descriptive, analytical texts, introduce each of the five historical periods into which the book is divided. Carefully researched, captions identify the time, place, personalities and context of each photograph. The first printing was in 1984. Learn more about the book.

Born in Jerusalem, Walid Khalidi was educated at the University of London and Oxford University. He taught at Oxford, the American University of Beirut, and Harvard. Khalidi is the general secretary of the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The publication of the first printing of Before Their Diaspora in 1984 was made possible through the generous patronage of Mr Abdul Hamid Shoman, Chairman of the Board of Director, the Arab Bank (Amman, Jordan) and Mr Hassib Sabbagh, founder of the Diana Tamari Sabbagh Foundation (Beirut, Lebanon).

This electronic Portugues edition of Before Their Diaspora was made possible through the generosity of Dr. Gamal Abouali.

The book's preface is a vital read. It lays out the reasoning and historic context for the book. Also, it explains the book's scope, methods and sources.